Ready… Giddy… Go!

After Ruby and before an LPA becomes a typhoon (hopefully not) that will threaten Visayas and Mindanao, I will be on a plane for Siquijor, via Dumaguete. This is the first stop of this month’s dive and foodie trip. I am so excited! It’s been a while.

First stop is Siquijor for some dives and to talk with my host, Daman Harada. He is an ex school teacher from Japan who fell in love with the island. He reached out to the public schools here and found their infrastructure, particularly the lack of proper restrooms and water, deplorable. He put up an NGO called the Siquijor Angels to fund irrigation and construction for public schools in the province.

Next is Punta Ballo in Sipalay City. Again, this is for some dives, and also to check out the artificial reef project of Easy Diving/Christian Reinwald, my host for this leg.

And then I’ll be at Danjugan Island, a conservation pioneer and MPA under the Philippine Reef and Rainforest Project . Here, I hope to swim with some black tips and visit a shallow sheltered octopus *fingers crossed … apart from talking to the island manager, of course.

Then, I will try some cansi and original Bacolod inasal before heading to Cebu City for lunch with the people behind the struggling Cebu Mariculture Demonstration Center.